#1379 Jessica and the Bear

There’s a certain style of editorial that I associate with New Zealand fashion magazines – a little grungy, a little raw, tops slipping off the shoulder, one bra strap (or cup) exposed, an emphasis on edgy-cool as opposed to glossy-pretty. No doubt it’s the influence of magazines like Pavement and NO, photographers like Derek Henderson and Karen Inderbitzen Waller and stylists like Zara Mirkin. It’s obviously a popular and successful aesthetic – just the other day I found myself marvelling at a shoot of that nature. But sometimes it’s nice to be blindsided by something completely different, like this editorial by Charles Howells from the latest issue of Pilot. I was obsessed the moment I saw it. It reminds me of two quite different children’s books – Where The Wild Things Are and Le Petit Prince (see below, you’ll understand why). It’s naive and hopeful and playful and it showcases our varied landscapes. I have it on good authority that Pilot‘s Creative Director Andy Pickering plays the part of the bear on the swing. Who said fashion can’t be fun?I LIKE YOU!

shame on the editor of pilot, and you isaac. this shoot is not original at all – this concept has been done over and over again. you can’t hold it up as groundbreaking new zealand fashion or as something to be ‘blindsided by’, it’s just an average copy of somebody elses nice idea. i’m not in this industry so i’ve got no axe to grind, however, i am a consumer of magazines such as pilot, and i would expect more.

Hmm – why blatantly copy such a distinctive subject matter? I mean its impossible to be totally original but I did a double take when I saw this and not in a good way. I do expect a lot from Pilot – loved the cover shoot though – so beautiful.

Isaac, who styled this? why don’t you ever acknowledge any other stylists/photographers or creatives other than the same names you always bring up? there’s plenty of other better talented stylists out there that are doing far more interesting things than Karen or Zara.Shame on you.

The shoot is nice but aside from the second to last shot, I agree with some of the comments, that the shoot is nothing spectacular. And to the above comment, there are plenty of variously talented NZ stylists and photographers. I don’t understand why so many feel the need to slander other people’s work in order to acknowledge another’s. Oh well.

dear (mean and jealous) anon 9-41AMthere is a reason why zara, karen and significant others are mentioned all the time:

A) because they are good / great and working to an internationally acclaimed levelB )because they are actually workingat this as a living and not just fake mean wannabes.

the others you claim to note are so fantastic (yourself maybe?) are not mentioned for the following reasons:

A)because they are not doing anything great or just copying others that do. or not doing anything at all worth note.B)because they are crap and should prob consider a new profession.

Isaac is entitled to rate whomever he pleases, its his blog and he happens to know his shit.maybe you should grow some class and actually have the balls to comment that kind of jealous mean hatred under your own name if you stand by your (valued?) opinion so much.